“When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them…
‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil.’”
James Tissot (France 1836–1902), The Sermon of the Beatitudes (La sermon des béatitudes), 1896, opaque watercolour over graphite on gray wove paper.
In this painting Tissot emphasises Jesus’ position as teaching the crowd from the summit of the mountain, possibly drawing a parallel between Jesus and Moses.
A connection that we can also see tracings of in the gospel of Matthew: starting with the parallel massacres of male babies by both Herod and Pharaoh, then in Matthew 2:15 the gospel writer reminds us of the prophecy “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” Then, after Jesus comes up out of the waters of baptism (symbolism that is often linked with the Israelites’ escape from slavery through the Red Sea), he is tempted in the desert for forty days, mirroring the forty years spent wandering the desert. Finally in parallel with final sermon of Moses in Deuteronomy he returns from the desert to the mountain and preaches the sermon on the mount.
This connection to Moses gives context for how to read this sermon, emphasising Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:17 where he declares that he has come to fulfil the law (you can read more about this in this article.)
Bible Passage: Matthew 5 - 7
My Big Story Bible: Pages 162